RUN – Page 11 – an amazing run

2016 Frankfort Half Marathon Race Report

4/30/2016

I’m not even the fastest Old Guy!

I ran the Frankfort, Illinois Half Marathon today and found myself really questioning my sanity. First of all, I am in the middle of training for Ironman Lake Placid, and I usually avoid racing any distance road race to avoid doing something stupid and end up injured. But my training plan tapered this week with the instruction to do an Olympic distance triathlon on Sunday. Seeing that it is April in Illinois, good luck finding one. So I substituted the half marathon on a Saturday to end the week.

Second, this race seems doomed weather-wise. It was 40 degrees and pouring last year (I didn’t run it last year), and this year was predicted to be more of the same. I have never not started a race that I signed up for (and paid good money), and I really didn’t like thinking that I was going to blow it off. Fortunately, the rain held off at the start and I took my spot in Corral A. I found it slightly humorous that I was seeded in the first corral of this little local race.

So the gun went off and I found myself running along the guy holding the 1:30 pace group sign, a sign basically made from a dowel rod, two paper plates, and plenty of clear tape. We chatted for a while, but I knew that I would probably be better off not trying to stay with him. We passed the first mile and he said our split was 6:51! Okay, definitely need to back off the gas a little. I mentioned to him that I was surprised the big guy in green was ahead of us, holding that sub-7 minute per mile pace, but that guy started to slowly pull away. Pacer Guy said he had to pick it up in order to stay on pace. I found this particularly funny, because he basically had no one with him to pace! Maybe he grew tired of me, I don’t know. I do know the 2 hour pacer guy came in a little late and the guy with the microphone was razzing him a little. Maybe 1:30 pacer guy didn’t want to suffer the same indignity! Pacer Guy didn’t have a bib, and wasn’t racing because I asked him. So I let both the Pacer Guy and Green Shirt Guy go and I fell into a more comfortable pace, because I knew what was coming.

After a few minutes I found myself running alone. The Pacer Guy and Green Shirt Guy were at least 100 yards ahead, and there was no one immediately behind me either. I find myself in this situation all the time and it puzzles me. I guess it is a matter of perspective, but I can either say I am the slowest of the faster group or the fastest of the slow group. Maybe mid-packer is what I truly am. But it is tough to be in the mid-pack WHEN YOU ARE THE ONLY ONE! Trivial, I guess. The loneliness of a long distance runner.

I also realized at this point of the race, I was slightly overdressed. I took off the ear wrap and gloves and could feel myself cooling down. I thought about tossing the long sleeve shirt but kept it, because I remembered during my warm up that the wind would be blowing in my face on this out and back run. Glad I kept it on.

Standing in the elite (!) Corral A, I took notice of the competition. There was the typical thin twenty year olds who look like they just finished their college running careers, the backward hat guy, a couple of girls who I could tell had “game”, the guy with some race team singlet, and another guy who clearly didn’t belong in Corral A because his number was 438 or something, and we were all wearing very low numbers. Plus, he kept asking questions about the course. We racers in Corral A never come to Corral A without knowing the course and how to attack it! SMH, dude.

But the most interesting aspect of my fellow competitors in Corral A was that many seemed to be in my age group by the look of their greying hair and fuddy-duddy race outfits. I had looked at last year’s results and figured if I had a good day, I might win an age-group award, but looking at these guys I wasn’t so sure. They had the look of confidence, and well the look of fast, old guys.

Back to the action – At about four miles into the race, we turned off the mostly flat bike trail and headed into the nature preserve. Since I live in this area, I consider this area my home turf. I know every little hill, bump, crack, twist and turn as I have run this trail nearly every run since it opened in 2001 or so. I knew what was coming, about six miles of very difficult hilly terrain. So I paced myself up the hills and flew down the other side, over and over again. At about Mile 5, a group of volunteers were passing out water so I took a cup to wash down the gel I just ate. As I was doing that, the volunteer said “You’re looking good!” I replied, “Lady, I’m not even the fastest old guy!”

And that was true. I hadn’t caught any of the old dudes that had started with me in the race. I had a good idea of where I stood, about 14th overall, when I had the opportunity to count the lead out pack earlier in the race. At the halfway point, I had only been passed by two runners – the two girls with game – and that was it. I also saw Race Team Singlet Guy walking on the side of the trail after getting through Round 1 of the hills. As I hit the turn-around and started back into the fury of hills, I could see that he dropped out. Yes! I made up a position! But I could also see how far the Fast Old Guys were ahead of me. Way ahead of me.

Back into the hills and that’s when the rest of the racers got a view of the awesomeness of the Corral A starters! Out and backs are interesting, as you get to see the lead runners and how far ahead of you they are. I got a little depressed when I saw the leaders already heading back while I still had a half mile to the turn-around. I wonder if the back of the pack runners get that too. They and I shouldn’t, we’re awesome too!

The trail got pretty crowded and I was no longer able to take the straightest line and run the tangents. But I got plenty of “great job’s!” and I returned the complement. I have been running since the late 1980’s, and truthfully I think this is the biggest running boom that I have seen in a long time. Glad to see so many others taking up the sport, especially the longer distance stuff. The lone runner that I actually know personally, Holly, saw me and we exchanged hello’s!

At Mile 9 I caught Green Shirt Guy, and as we continued leaving the hills behind us, he didn’t seem to want to keep up. But I didn’t get to enjoy passing him for too long, because within a mile I got passed by White Shirt Guy. I had dismissed White Shirt Guy earlier because he didn’t look the part of my other Corral A competitors. We were wearing real running shorts and looking every bit the part of running legends, and this guy had a pair of baggy shorts pulled over some tights. And he was wearing earphones! I got to say, I see people wearing head and earphones in races all the time. I never take them seriously because I think its a crutch for them, like they can’t do such a boring activity without music! And if they can’t run without music, my thinking is that they probably aren’t doing intervals and hill repeats either. But maybe I misjudged White Shirt Guy and his earphones.

White Shirt Guy passed me quickly as I was trying to down my second and last gel, but he was panting pretty hard and I felt like I was floating along. My immediate thought was that he is kicking way too early. I grabbed a water from another volunteer and said something that I would quickly regret: “That guy sounds like he’s suffering.” He wasn’t.

We turned on to the path and briefly headed west until a quick turn around and then it’s a 5K or so straight back to the finish. It was then when I saw the pack starting to form behind me, and the lead that White Shirt Guy was building. I figured I better keep pace with White Shirt Guy, and focus on the race ahead instead of what was behind.

The wind was now blowing straight into our faces. It wasn’t that strong, but it was cold and it made me duck my head a little. It had also started to sprinkle just a little. As I crossed Wolf Road one of the ESDA volunteers shouted my name. It was a kid that I had coached and had on my baseball team when he was about 11 or 12. I tell you that really gave me a pick-up! I actually had a little adrenaline flow through me from that. Glad I made an impression on the kid. And I am thankful that he was impressed.

I kept the pace until Mile 11 and started to draw White Shirt Guy in slowly. I could see the big bridge that goes over Route 45 ahead at about 12.5 miles and knew I would pace up it and try to fly down it. I made up some space on him and it was then that I knew I probably had him. As we came upon the 13 Mile marker, he took a quick look over his left shoulder, but I don’t think he saw me as I was running far right. I made my move and passed him quickly. I don’t think he even heard me, because he didn’t make any sort of effort to match my effort. Another reason not to wear earphones in a race! I heard him struggling and finally give an exasperated sigh, and I kicked to the finish line with what I had left. He kicked too damn early. And he wore earphones. I don’t get beat by runners wearing earphones.

I walked to the car and grabbed my sweatshirt and sweatpants to keep warm and then I walked back to the finish and watched quite a few runners finish. The race directors Jim and Bev own the little running store near the finish line. My son worked for them last summer. I spoke with Jim and he reiterated how great of a kid he was. Even though he has told me that once before, I still beam with pride. (Note to my son – use Jim as a reference on your resume!)

Bev walked up and had the current list of finishers and she let me have a look. There it was: 12th place overall. 4th in the 50-54 age group. I finished in the top twelve and didn’t even medal.

I’m not even the fastest Old Guy.

Requisite Finish Selfie

Unofficial watch time

Finisher’s medal – Not and A/G medal.

2015 Running & Triathlon Year in Review

Every year on December 31, I like to look back on my running year and add up the miles, crunch some numbers, look at the stats and jot down some notes about the experiences that running gave me.

Also every year I seem to proclaim that it was the best year ever for me. 2015 is no exception.

THE STREAK

I set an unintentional goal at the start of 2015. I say it was unintentional because I decided to run on January 1, 2015. A short and easy three mile treadmill run. It was uneventful, really. But I had purposely avoided running on January 1 in previous years to avoid trying to start a running streak. Well, I ran again on January 2, and then again on the 3^rd, 4^th, 5^th, etc. The running streak was on!

I really just wanted to see how long I could do it, knowing from my past that I would probably need a day off to heal from overdoing it, or just a mental break from the running routine. Life gets in the way – vacations, sickness, bad weather, family responsibilities, etc. – all could have derailed a year long running streak. But I was finding routine in this streak. I came home from work at noon and went for a run. Wake up the next day and repeat. The goal of making it 365 days in a row seemed doable. I decided that while most “streakers” attempt at least one daily mile, I would try to do at least two. Because I am a gunner.

A couple of threats to completing the streak popped up. I tried to slalom water ski while on summer vacation in Minocqua, Wisconsin.

I tried to get up on one ski and pulled the upper right quad slightly. Shook it off and then decided that I would just drop a ski instead. Well, that trick ended with a pulled left hamstring. Fortunately, I had already run that day, but the following day it was sore. I attempted a really slow jog down the Bearskin Trail and started feeling pretty good. My marathon training plan had me running 12 miles, but I decided that would be too ambitious, since we were packing up and heading home that morning. After about a mile, I made one longer than average stride to miss a bad spot on the trail, and it was then I felt it go south. I turned around and started to limp back home. I was able to shuffle after about 5 minutes of walking and was happy to finish with a 2 mile run. The following day was a long car ride back home from vacation, and after getting home I was able to shuffle through a 3 miler. It took a little longer to no longer feel the hamstring pull, but after about two weeks it was feeling pretty good.

The other threat was catching a stomach bug late October. Although I wasn’t vomiting, I did have spells of nausea, and lots of the other stuff. I started feeling mobile around late afternoon and decided to attempt a couple miles on the treadmill. I got through one mile in 10:50, and just did not have any energy left. One of the hardest miles I can ever remember running. I went upstairs and took a 30 minute, hot and steamy shower. So the illness didn’t end the streak, but my goal of at least two miles a day would be dashed.

The last possible unknown in attempting the streak was lurking after the Chicago Marathon. In the past, I usually took off about 3 days from running post-marathon, mainly to heal, but also because I was sore and it usually hurt just to move. This year that would not be an option. I ran the marathon, made sure I ate a lot of protein post-race, and did some muscle massaging with my roller, and hit the trail for two miles on Monday afternoon. Surprisingly, although very stiff, I wasn’t doing too bad. Until I got to the small little hills – downhills in particular were brutal! But I got my two miles in, with three the next day, and I was back to the 7 miles and more by Wednesday.

After the marathon, I didn’t really see anything in my way of completing the streak through December 31. I just kept putting in end of year taper mileage and having fun. But another aspect popped up – I could see that my annual mileage total might hit the 2,000 mark. That was

The Priests praise my name on this night.

unbelievable to me. 2,000 in one year had been unthinkable. I guess all those two milers I ran instead of taking an off day added up and made a difference. So now the goal was 2K! And I hit it in late November. Now, with a month to go, I had 2,100 miles in my sights! In the last couple of weeks, I could see that it would take some 8 and 10 mile runs to get there, but it wasn’t a problem. December had been an unusually warm and running friendly month weather-wise, and I felt pretty good for running all year long. In the last week, the RUSH fan in me took over and I planned my runs to hit that magical number of 2112. With a four mile run on December 31, I held the Red Star proudly high in hand.

With all of the focus on the streak, and then the final year-end tally, I can’t forget how awesome of a running year this was. I kept thinking that the streak might have an adverse effect on performance. Boy, was I wrong! Distance-wise, the streak paid off. I set a marathon personal record, as well as a PR in the half-marathon. Not by a little, but I really smashed those marks – the half by about 3 minutes and the marathon by a whopping 10 minutes.

CHICAGO MARATHON RACE RECAP

Other than the streak, my “A” race was once again the Chicago Marathon and the focus for most of the summer. This time I decided to mix it up and get serious and find a decent training plan. I found one that really interested me from the race site itself, a 16-week training plan by Nike+. It was a good mix of training – tempo, speed-work, distance and recovery weeks. I had my son, who is a NCAA DIII XC runner at Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa look it over, and he made some nice alterations and a plan of his own based on it. I took his advice under consideration and away I went. The big difference from this plan and my previous training attempts was that it had lots of longer distance long runs. Mostly 12, 14, 16, 18, and 20 mile runs. It became apparent that it was serious about logging long miles. I think that was a vital aspect to my performance in the race.

799930_1004_0049 The race was predicted to be a warm one, with some wind. Although I opted to run in a singlet, I kept it tucked in and donned some arm warmers for the early morning start and tossed them later into the race.

The plan was simple, run 8 minute per mile splits until I hit the halfway point, and then pick it up ever so slowly with negative splits for the back half. I would hit the aid stations for water, and I took a salt tablet before the race and every hour into the run. I also had a belt full of GU, downing a packet every ½ hour.

The plan was going very well, and when I got to the 13.1mile mark, I decided not to push the pace until about mile 16 or so. It was starting to warm up. When I got to 16, I still felt as good as I did at mile 6, b 782156_1053_0008 ut I decided to extend that negative split push until mile 20 to hopefully avoid the dreaded wall. At 20, I made the decision to start picking it up. But what seemed like I was going faster, was just me thinking the effort was increasing my pace. It wasn’t. It was just taking more effort to maintain the 8 minute miles! I got to mile 23, and with a 5K to go, I GU’d again and started the straight line march back to the finish line. Somewhere with less than 2 to go, I saw my wife and the kids and shook my head. I was hitting the wall. Really the wall was hitting me. The wind that had been forecasted all day was now a headwind making my effort of finishing strong extremely hard! But somehow I found the determination to just keep passing people and get to the end.

I had been checking my watch pretty closely those last three miles. When I got to mile 25, I figured my sub-3:30 marathon, Boston Qualifier was on pretty solid ground. The emotions hit me hard when I crossed the line in 3 hours, 28 minutes and 19 seconds. A BQ by 1 minute 41 seconds, and a personal record by 10 minutes! I was very thankful for the streak, the plan, and the ability to finally get that Boston Marathon qualifying time and have a race of a lifetime. I honestly believe that with a better weather day, I could have been 3:25 or even 3:23. 782215_1054_0050

TRIATHLONS

Outside of running, my triathlon buddies once again had another great year. I could finish dead last and still have a great time, because triathlon has become more of a gift of spending time with my friends enjoying pushing ourselves.

– LEON’S WORLDS FASTEST TRIATHLON

Dave, John, Alex and I took on Leon’s Worlds Fastest Triathlon in Hammond, IN in early June. It seemed like a good idea at the time. The race had been a USA Triathlon national qualifier, and we were kind of hoping for the same this year. But they hosted the military championships instead. The race was interesting! We arrived to see that the forecast for the day was strong thunderstorms. As we waited to get in the water, the promised storms hit, and the race was delayed. After they rolled through, we were told that the race was now a shortened sprint. We were told that the road used for the Olympic bike course was underwater, but we had the feeling that the delay of the race start was pushing up against turning the roads back over to the City of Hammond. I for one was happy. The swim was okay, but I really didn’t put in much swim training leading up to the race. I kind of paid for that mistake. The bike and run were interesting. A complete downpour throughout both made for a crazy ride and run. Heading east on the bike I was easily hitting 25 mph, but heading back it was more like 15 mph! Dave and John had built a big lead over me in the swim and bike, but I made an effort to chase them down. I caught John about a mile into the run and I could see Dave ahead of me after about 2.5 miles into the 5K. I pushed hard, and I was really at the Z4 redline when I had just about 200 yards to go. He turned and saw me, then he beat me down with a kick that I no longer had. I finished a couple of seconds behind him, but I still had to hand it to him. Great job racing.

– LIFETIME TRI CHICAGO

This year, good friends Jeff and Jill joined us at Chicago. We all did the Olympic distance and had a great day. I ended up besting everyone except Alex, of course. But it was very good to see Jill giving triathlon a try, and especially Jeff overcoming some anxiety about the swim to essentially become a very good triathlete.

left to right: Dave, John, me, Alex, Jeff and Jill

– ITU CHICAGO WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS & OPEN AGE GROUP TRI

September came and Dave, John, Jeff and I did the ITU in Chicago. It was a repeat of last year, and we really enjoyed it the year before. This year was the World ITU Championships and I expected it to be crazy. In reality, it didn’t seem as well run as the year before. Race morning was weather affected and they shortened the swim to essentially a sprint distance. The rest of the race went off as planned. Good racing by all four of us, but this time I came out on top. It was on the last lap of the 10K run that I caught Dave and beat him to the finish. I may have an edge at the Olympic distance, but it’s just a matter of time before those guys catch up with me.

SCHAUMBURG TURKEY TROT HALF MARATHON

I finished the year with a great half marathon in Schaumburg after Thanksgiving. I have done this race before, and like the forest preserve setting and the generally flat and fast course. I felt emboldened by my marathon PR, so I decided that I might set out on a 7:15 minute/mile pace. There was a pace group at that split time, so I thought I would hang with them, but it took me 6:40 and 6:50 minute miles for the first two miles to catch up! I ran with them for about two miles when I realized that I felt stronger than 7:15’s and slowly pushed ahead. I ended the day with 7:04 pace average and a PR of 1:32:36. I’m starting to like the half marathon distance.

SUMMARY

So, that pretty much sums up the year. Started with a streak as a goal, ended up setting personal bests in number of runs/hours/miles in a calendar year, and set two PR’s in the half and full marathon distance. 2015 was a GREAT year!

Goals for 2016? Well, the “A” race has already been set. Team Dave, John, Chris, Alex and Jeff, now known as the “GUNNERS” will head to Lake Placid, New York for Ironman Lake Placid in late July. I am really looking forward to the fun times training and racing with my fellow Gunners in 2016!

RACES IN 2105

5/4 – St. Mary’s School Titan Dash 5K – 20:48 – 6:41 ave. pace – 5^th Overall!

5/7 – Leon’s Triathlon – 1:04:57 – Dave outkicked me at the end

6/17 – Short Run on a Long Day – 20:43 – 2^nd in A/G, 22^nd O/A

8/30 – Lifetime Tri Chicago – 2:35:28

9/19 – ITU Chicago – 2:17:40 – First place Gunner

10/11 – Chicago Marathon – 3:28:19 – PR, 3921 O/A

11/28 – Schaumburg Turkey Trot Half Marathon – 1:32:36 – PR, 67^th O/A

Swim/Bike/Run Totals for 2015

Swim: 34,400 total yards

Bike: 1,379 total miles

Run: 365 runs – 2112 total miles – 8:12 mins/mile average